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On Deck: 2022

Just got off the phone with a company called Clear Insights. It's a polling company. At the start it seemed like a fair poll but the further it went on it clearly became a push poll trying to imply some totally ridiculous positions to my Rep. Dan Kildee. I came right out and said "Now your're getting into totally bullshit questions and I'm done."

I'm suspecting this was contracted by Paul Junge, the likely GOP candidate against Kildee and a total lying shitbag.
 
www.theatlantic.com

The Right to Lie in Campaigns Is Safe, for Now.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a First Amendment case over "false" ads can continue.
www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com
Add another wrinkle to the insanity that is the 2014 midterms: Courts will still be deciding whether states have the right to restrict "false" campaign ads.

The Supreme Court on Monday ducked the biggest questions in a potentially significant First Amendment case about political attack ads and how state governments can regulate them. But it said those issues should continue to play out in lower courts.

This all started with an anti-Obamacare billboard in 2010. The Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion-rights group, wanted to put up a billboard attacking then-Rep. Steve Driehaus over his vote for the Affordable Care Act. "Shame on Steve Driehaus! Driehaus voted FOR taxpayer-funded abortion," the billboard read.

Driehaus said the attack was false, and his state — Ohio — bans false ads.

SBA List never put up the billboard in question, but it challenged the Ohio law as unconstitutional. State governments have no business deciding what can be said in a political campaign, or serving as the arbiters of what's true or false, SBA List argued.

A federal appeals court tossed out SBA List's suit on procedural grounds. The Supreme Court reversed that decision in a unanimous ruling Monday, saying the suit can proceed.
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This is the death of democracy. The Government shouldn't be in a position of saying what is and isn't true. But, it shouldn't be required to be that arbiter as people should be able to manage it themselves, like adults. But the alt-right is now consumed with falsehoods. Q-Anon, Trump, OANN (because Fox News wasn't radical enough). It is destroying us and I can easily seeing this SCOTUS rubber stamping free false speech, and then insulating the speakers of false speech against politicians by saying the politicians are public figures.

And our slide into authoritarianism continues.
 
One wonders, if the awfulness of the extremist GOP results in Democratic gains in Senate and house, how would this affect 2024? Would the GOP double down on the crazy? Or back off to avoid political slaughter at hands of angy, young women voters?
 
Cheerful Charlie said:
One wonders, if the awfulness of the extremist GOP results in Democratic gains in Senate and house, how would this affect 2024?
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The GOP are ecstatic that the supreme court used 17th Century Witch Hunters to ban abortion. They'll probably find other ways to emulate what passed for "Democracy" in that era.



Oh, wait. That's hardly news, is it?
 
JD Vance Suggests People in ‘Violent’ Marriages Shouldn’t Get Divorced
JD Vance said people need to be more willing to stay in unhappy marriages for the sake of their kids—and seemed to suggest that in some cases, “even violent” marriages should continue.

The Ohio Republican Senate nominee, talking to Pacifica Christian High School in Southern California last September, gave an extended answer that claimed that people now “shift spouses like they change their underwear,” and that it had done long-term damage to a generation of children.

“This is one of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace, which is the idea that like, ‘well, OK, these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy. And so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that’s going to make people happier in the long term,’” Vance said.

“And maybe it worked out for the moms and dads, though I’m skeptical. But it really didn’t work out for the kids of those marriages,” Vance continued. “And that’s what I think all of us should be honest about, is we’ve run this experiment in real time. And what we have is a lot of very, very real family dysfunction that’s making our kids unhappy.”
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After mentioning his grandparents' marriage (parents of which of his parents?),
“Culturally, something has clearly shifted. I think it’s easy but also probably true to blame the sexual revolution of the 1960s. My grandparents had an incredibly chaotic marriage in a lot of ways, but they never got divorced, right? They were together to the end, ’til death do us part. That was a really important thing to my grandmother and my grandfather. That was clearly not true by the 70s or 80s,” he said.
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Reminds me of a certain relative of mine who was firmly opposed to divorce. He stated that his parents hated each other, yet stayed married.

Seems like the ideal sort of marriage for opponents of divorce, because it requires an uphill struggle to maintain. People who stay married because they are fond of each other are cheating, because they don't desire a divorce.
 
ance recounted his own tragic experiences with domestic violence in his best-selling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, including details of his grandparents’ sometimes “violent marriage,'' describing his grandfather as a “violent drunk” before he got sober and his grandmother as a “violent nondrunk.” In one instance before he was born, his grandmother warned his grandfather that she’d kill him if he ever came home drunk again. When he did, she went to make good on that threat.

“Mamaw, never one to tell a lie, calmly retrieved a gasoline canister from the garage, poured it all over her husband, lit a match, and dropped it on his chest. When Papaw burst into flames, their 11-year-old daughter jumped into action to put out the fire and save his life,” Vance writes.
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Does J.D. Vance really think that a couple like that ought to stay married?
But Vance’s grandparents’ relationship had improved by the time he was a child—and he writes that they were by far the most stable in his life as he was growing up, offering him a refuge from the chaos created by his mother as she struggled with opiate addiction and cycled through multiple partners.

Vance wrote that when he was 12, his enraged mother pulled the car over “to beat the shit out of” him, and he ran for his life, taking refuge in a stranger’s house. His mother broke down the door and physically dragged him out. The cops came and charged her with domestic violence; he lied to a judge and said she hadn’t threatened him to help keep her out of jail.
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Is that a good kind of parenting? She deserved jail for that kind of conduct.
The toxic lessons he said he learned from his mother’s failed relationships: “Never speak at a reasonable volume when screaming will do; if the fight gets a little too intense, it’s OK to slap and punch, so long as the man doesn’t hit first; always express your feelings in a way that ’s insulting and hurtful to your partner; if all else fails, take the kids and the dog to a local motel, and don’t tell your spouse where to find you.”

He wrote that all that chaos has scarred him.

“The never-ending conflict took its toll. Even thinking about it today makes me nervous. My heart begins to race, and my stomach leaps into my throat,” he wrote.
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Yet what J.D. Vance seems to want will only make such problems worse.
When he was asked about gay marriage at a March candidate forum hosted by Toledo Right to Life, Vance said that he doesn’t like the “cafeteria Christianity” of people selecting their own beliefs and said he believed that “marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman,” before pivoting into a criticism of how divorce has become more societally acceptable.

“The entire idea that you can discard your husband or your wife like a piece of clothing is one of the most dangerous assaults that we've ever seen on the family in this country,” he said. “If we want children to grow up with healthy, happy lives, we should be reminding them that the most important thing that we can do for our kids is make sure they grow up with a mom and dad at home. The assault on the institution of marriage has been a profound evil. It hasn't just affected our adults, it's affected our children in big ways.”
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www.politico.com

It’s official: The attack on McMorrow backfired.

The Michigan Republican lawmaker who accused Mallory McMorrow of being a “groomer” netted $235 afterward. McMorrow took in $1 million.
www.politico.com www.politico.com
The numbers are in and it’s official: The attack on Democratic Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow backfired.

The Michigan Republican state senator who falsely described McMorrow as a “groomer” in an April fundraising email raised less than $300 in the days following the solicitation, according to campaign finance filings. McMorrow, on the other hand, raised more than $1 million.

In the fundraising email, Michigan State Sen. Lana Theis of Brighton said colleagues like McMorrow were “outraged” that they couldn’t “groom and sexualize kindergartners.” The charge prompted McMorrow to make a spirited speech in the Senate in her own defense — a speech that went viral and made her a political celebrity on the left.
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It seems that after the 2020 elections, Nancy Pelosi (aged 82) will step down as Speaker of the House. There seems to be some speculation as to who might replace her. Steny Hoyer, also in his 80's? A centrist? Somebody more progresive? Adam Schiff?

Place your bets now!
 
Cheerful Charlie said:
It seems that after the 2020 elections, Nancy Pelosi (aged 82) will step down as Speaker of the House. There seems to be some speculation as to who might replace her. Steny Hoyer, also in his 80's? A centrist? Somebody more progresive? Adam Schiff?
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Isn't Hakeem Jeffreys the heir apparent?
Although I thought national Dems were supposed to be against blatantly partisan gerrymanders. Hakeem is a big fan of them.

All of that might be moot, as the House Dems will likely lose the Speakership and will have to fight over the position of Minority Leader instead.
 
Herschel Walker is turning out to be a total nincompoop. Mehmet Oz and JD Vance aren't much better.
 
Dems could gain 4 seats if all goes perfectly. That'd seem like a complete and utter failure of the GOP. A 2 seat gain seems very plausible. How in the heck could the GOP not find someone other than Herschel Walker? The GOP has a history of own goals in Senate races. Walker seemed tainted, things got worse and worse for him, and when he tried to do the Trump 'just say BS' route, it didn't work. The worrisome thing... Warnock is still under 50%. And the undecided have been going hard for the alt-right the last several years. Some of the polls show Walker below 40%, others just a few points back, telling two different stories on his campaign. If Walker wins that race... Georgia should be reburned to the ground.

In Ohio, JD Vance sounded like a crazy right-winger going on about "The Wall" in Internet ads. Now it is crazy right-winger verses flat-gun gun supporting moderate Tim Ryan, who needed to get support between the Rust Belt and Akron to have a career, so that isn't very left-wing territory. Again, polling is too tight and Ryan is well below 50%. Ryan is the perfect Democrat candidate for Ohio. If he can't win, the state has become red.

I think the problem with Mehmet Oz is he doesn't engage any voter base except old people that watch crap like his show. In hindsight, he doesn't appear to excite conservatives, alt-righters, moderates, liberals. He won the primary, but when the general election comes, the only reason to vote for him is because he isn't a Democrat, but he isn't a Trumper or notable Republican either. Polling here clearly shows Oz is in trouble. Fetterman, again, is below 50%, but Oz is below 40%... on average.
 
In Arizona, the right-wing base has gone full blown authoritarian, well, at least the plurality of it has. And a plurality is all authoritarianism needs at a point.

Kari "All I have done is say 2020 was a Stolen Election" Lake is now leading Robson 11.3k votes, but that is 81% reporting.
Rusty Bowers, who wouldn't say Trump had election stolen from him... forget certify as such lost.
Blake Masters, another Election denier and Trump backed candidate won the GOP Primary to face American Hero Mark Kelly.
Mark Finchem, another Election denier won the GOP Primary for the Sec of State position, which puts him one election victory away from being able to adjust results as necessary.
 
thehill.com

Dee Snider rips Kari Lake as ‘fascist moron’ over Twisted Sister hit

Dee Snider is ripping Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake as a “fascist moron” for quoting a Twisted Sister song and reportedly playing it at her rallies. A Twitter account describing its…
thehill.com thehill.com
Dee Snider is ripping Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake as a “fascist moron” for quoting a Twisted Sister song and reportedly playing it at her rallies.

A Twitter account describing itself as Lake’s official campaign tweeted out the lyrics to the band’s 1984 hit “We’re Not Gonna Take It” this week.

But the 67-year-old Snider quickly condemned Lake’s campaign for borrowing his tune.

“Hey idiots! Read the 1st line: ‘We’ve got the right to choose!’ This is a PRO-CHOICE anthem you or co-opting. It was NEVER intended for you fascist morons!” Snider wrote to his more than 300,000 Twitter followers.

“As the songwriter and singer I DENOUNCE EVERYTHING [Lake] STANDS FOR!” Snider wrote.

“Write your own damn song!” he said.
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news.yahoo.com

Dick Cheney torches Trump in ad: 'He's a coward'

In a new campaign ad for his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney, former Vice President Dick Cheney does not mince words about former President Donald Trump, calling him a "coward" and a "threat to our republic."
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com

Dick Cheney torches Trump in ad: 'He's a coward'​

In a new campaign ad for his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney, former Vice President Dick Cheney does not mince words about former President Donald Trump, calling him a "coward" and a "threat to our republic."
“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump," Cheney, wearing a cowboy hat and looking directly into the camera, says in the ad. "He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward. A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters."
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ZiprHead said:
www.cnn.com

Indiana Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski dies in car accident that also killed 2 staffers

Indiana Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski has died in a car accident that also killed two of Walorski's staffers, House Republican leaders announced Wednesday.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com
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4 people died including the person driving the other car. Her vehicle crossed the median, doubt she was driving.

All things said, she sounded like a decent person... who also voted to up end the election in 2020.
 
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